Ms. Claudia A. Cross is the Department of Energy's Deputy Chief Human Capital Officer and its Director of the Office of Human Resources Management. Previously, she was the Chief Human Capital Officer. She began her Federal career as an Intern with the Navy in 1975 and has risen through the ranks to the Senior Executive Service. She was appointed as the Department of Energy's Director of the Office of Human Resources Management on April 6, 2003 and as DOE's first Chief Human Capital Officer on May 21, 2003. Prior to her appointments, she served as the Acting Director of Human Resources Management from July 2002, and, prior to that, as the Acting Deputy Director, beginning in February 2002.

Ms. Cross has served in various capacities in the human resources arena for close to 30 years and is recognized as one of the leading experts in human capital management, HR Operations and Executive Resources in the Federal Government. At the Department, she is directly responsible for the management and execution of the Department's human resource policies and programs, and for implementing its human capital initiatives.

Ms. Cross has been asked to lead several Department-wide reorganization and human capital efforts including the transition of functions and resources to the Department of Homeland Security and the implementation of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) within DOE. She has been appointed by the Secretary to lead one of four Department-wide competitive sourcing studies and by the NNSA Administrator as a member of the NNSA Executive Resources Board. She is serving as the senior advisor to the top managers in the department regarding the development, management and coordination of agency wide programs and initiatives such as the HR approach to competitive sourcing, workforce planning, knowledge management, succession planning, corporate mentoring, labor management relations and revamped supervisory and SES performance appraisal systems. She is leading the implementation and expansion of numerous initiatives in e-gov within the HR community including on-line learning, QuickHire (an automated application/raking system for hiring), moving to a paperless training and personnel transactional system and Employee Self Service. She has reorganized and matrixed her organization to meet the ever new and demanding challenges of human resources within a downsizing environment and is in the process of leading and revamping her organization to the meet senior management and workplace needs.

Ms. Cross also worked for over ten years with the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights as Deputy Director of Personnel, as well as at the David Taylor Naval Ship Research and Development Center as an Employee and Labor Relations Specialist and Personnel Management Specialist.

Ms. Cross has been recognized for her performance over her career with numerous awards. She earned a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology from Temple University in 1973. She is married and lives with her husband and their son in Columbia, MD.(Courtesy of the Department of Energy)